Jodie's Website

I am a Christmas person

I am a Christmas person. I count down the days until the big day from mid-November. I love walking down the street and seeing the lights on people's houses and trees. I sing along whenever I hear Christmas carols, whether it be from a CD in a shop or a choir in the town centre. I wear my Christmas jumpers all year round. I get a certain happiness from picking out presents, wrapping them and then watching people open them, even more than when opening my own presents. I look forward to seeing my family in the holidays as we don't spend a lot of time together. I enjoy decorating the tree with my little brother as he eats almost all of the chocolates we're putting on it. I open my advent calendar religiously every morning, and never forget. My favourite thing about Christmas, though, is the way it makes everyone just a little more cheerful, puts a spring in their step or brings a smile to their face on an otherwise cold winter day. It's the happiness that comes with yuletide that has always done it for me, the excitement and the underlying reason for it all; love. I'm not by any means a Christian, and I know it's not my holiday because of this, but I love the traditions of Christmas anyway.

Bitching.

When I say bitching, I am talking about people talking about other people behind their backs in a mean or hurtful way. I couldn't think of a more appropriate word to describe what this article is going to be about but I apologise for the swearing.
I have been the victim of a lot of bitching in the past, and I have also been the perpetrator (even if I didn't realise it at the time) but recently my outlook on everything regarding the topic has changed as I have matured. In my high school, it was normal for people to talk about other people; it was the main subject of conversation and that was a natural and widespread thing. People were often very hurt by comments others had made and it ended in lots of fall-outs and confrontation.
I was thinking about it last night, after reading certain comments that I won't mention so as to not spark any controversy, but I realised that when you say something overly negative about someone else behind their back, completely unprovoked, it actually reflects far worse on you than it does on them. What I mean by this is the people you are talking to will listen and possibly even agree with you at the time, but if somebody is overly negative and critical, it is never attractive. Who would want to be friends with you if all you talk about to them is your other "friends" who you actually secretly dislike and have lots of opinions on why they're such awful people? It just makes people think that you'll do exactly the same behind their backs. Also, if an outsider overhears your snide comments, they're going to judge you more than they judge whoever you're talking about.
To bring this a little more into context, if you are posting "indirect tweets" about somebody, you are wasting your own time to negatively comment on somebody else for no real reason, online. Online means it is PUBLIC and can never really be completely erased. Although I am aware I have regretfully done this in the past, now when I see people do it, I can almost laugh at their stupidity. People will do anything for attention, even if it means bringing somebody else down for no reason. If you spent the time you spend bitching about people on improving your outlook on life, chances are that you would realise how petty and insignificant but extremely childish your words and actions are. If you really think out what you are saying, you would probably realise that there is little to no truth in it, and it could hurt people's feelings. This might be what you want. However, how would you feel if people were bitching about you? And if they already do, don't you think you could reduce it by stopping your retaliation? If you are nice to people, they will find it difficult to find flaws to bitch about.
So the saying is true that you should treat people how you would like to be treated; if we stop bitching about each other and instead direct that energy on being a positive and happy person, other people will follow in our footsteps and in a small way, the world will be a tiny bit better.

Little Update!

I have been SO busy with college that I haven't had any time to update my blog! (or things to write about other than the constant stream of homework coming my way...) So here is a little update post for you all if anyone is even bothering to read this. I am really enjoying my new college; it's so nice to meet to many new people and finally drop the subjects I hated at GCSE (yes i am talking about you, science). I love everything about my subjects with a few tiny exceptions and I am doing really well.
One thing people don't really tell you before you start A levels is HOW MUCH HARDER THEY ARE THAN GCSES! I got straight A*s and As at GCSE but A levels are so different; you basically start from the bottom and work your way up all over again, which can be extremely stressful and disheartening at first, but you have to remember that it is the same for everyone!
I have made quite a few new friends and I had a party for Halloween which was pretty fun! I definitely think I am more of a party-goer than host but it was a fun night all the same.
It was the first anniversary of my boyfriend and I yesterday, and we celebrated by going out for afternoon tea which was lovely!
I feel as if in the short time I have already been in college I have matured quite a lot and my outlook on certain things has changed, but I will be uploading a separate post all about that soon.

Has Social Media changed us?

Most people see social media as a way to keep in contact with friends and to get information about news events and people's lives on their feeds. But have websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram changed the way in which we interact with people in the real world?
20 years ago, if somebody had a falling out with their friends or was being bullied, they only had to suffer the hours at school before being able to go home, a safe place where their peers couldn't reach them unless they talked on the family's house phone. Now there is no escape. Going home means going into the world of indirect tweets, mean comments and cyberbullying. Social media allows many more people to get involved in situations than necessary and usually blows issues way out of proportion. This is extremely traumatic as it feels like there is no escape and leads many young people to taking their own lives.
Social media also changes the way we interact with people. We post photos on Facebook and pray for people's approval which is shown by them pressing the "like" button or typing a half-hearted comment. We post meaningless tweets, a running commentary of our day-to-day lives and along with expecting people to be genuinely interested in these pointless snippets of our life in less than 140 characters, we also spend hours scrolling through other people's tweets. We are constantly putting ourselves and our lives up for public opinion and it allows people to be harshly criticised and bullied.
We are living our lives through screens and we need to stop and ask ourselves if this is really making us happy and the best versions of ourselves. (Hint: It isn't!)

Street Harassment

Today as I was walking home, a man beeped his car horn at me and shouted something out of the window. Sadly, this isn't the first time I have experienced street harassment. To be honest, it happens so often that I am actually getting used to it. Isn't that disgusting? I am a 16 year old girl and I have grown men whistling at me as if I am a dog so often that I have learnt to ignore it.
Sure, I have been tempted to shout back or give them two fingers, but the fact that they think it's okay to harass young women on the streets makes me feel too unsafe to do anything. And what would it change anyway? Nothing! There are countless feminism awareness campaigns and issues such as this are being brought to light constantly and shamed, but nothing ever changes.
Many people have the opinion that certain people are "asking for it" because they dress provocatively. Wearing a short skirt in the summer should not put a big imaginary sign over my head saying "I WANT YOU TO BE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO ME".
The problem in our society today is that EVERYTHING is sexualised. Catcalling and labelling women as "sluts" for wearing the clothing they want to is wrong. Their state of dress is not the problem, your state of mind is.